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<i>Sonic booms shake up area
Navy jets arriving at MacDill break the sound barrier and shatter the quiet of a Friday evening.
GRAHAM BRINK and SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published March 12, 2005

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Seminole resident Henry Remi walked outside when he heard what sounded like a series of loud explosions Friday evening.

His neighbor had done the same thing.

"You hear that?" Remi asked.

"Yeah, I heard it," replied the neighbor.

Remi said he wanted to make sure he wasn't losing his mind. He wasn't.

What Remi and thousands of other residents from Citrus to Manatee counties heard and felt was two F-18 jets breaking the sound barrier. The resulting booms resonated from Citrus to Manatee counties.

The two Navy F-18 Hornets arrived from a naval air station in Pensacola and landed about 8 p.m., said Air Force 2nd Lt. Larry Vanderoord, spokesman for MacDill Air Force Base. He called their arrival a "routine landing" and said these planes usually fly faster and lower than typical planes landing at MacDill.

The jets, based out of California, were scheduled to take off again today or Sunday.

"They are very fast, and when they come in, they're very loud," Vanderoord said.

The shaking registered on the U.S. Geological Survey seismograph in Orlando, measuring 2.7 on the Richter Scale, the equivalent of a weak earthquake. Central Florida is not an active earthquake area, said USGS duty officer Madeleine Zirbes.

"They did see it register," Zirbes said from Denver, Colo. "They thought immediately that it could be a sonic boom."

The blast prompted hundreds of calls to area newspapers, TV and radio stations and local authorities. Many residents headed outside to find out why their homes were shaking.

Remi has heard the double boom that comes when space shuttles re-enter the atmosphere. On Friday, he said it sounded more like five or six booms in a row.

"I never heard so many booms come as rapidly as that," he said.

Carrollwood resident Mark Thatcher heard the rumbling over the noise of his television set.

"It just sounded like an airplane really close," he said.

© Copyright 2003 St.</i>

ah maverick I am thinking about becoming a truck driver. Goose

Ah, reminicent of the good old days of the late '50s/ early '60s! Rarely a day went by you didn't hear a BOOM! My mom finally gave up keeping me from racing out of the house to find the streaking contrails!

"Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together...." - Carl Zwanzig

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Ah, reminicent of the good old days of the late '50s/ early '60s! Rarely a day went by you didn't hear a BOOM! My mom finally gave up keeping me from racing out of the house to find the streaking contrails! <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>


<img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle>
That would've been yours truly.

Yeah, they knew it was pointless to resist after the time I ran from the Sunday dinner table and was invited NOT to return, only to hear me say OK and stay outside to wait for another one!<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

"Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together...." - Carl Zwanzig

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

My dad grew up here in Springfield Mass about three miles from Westover AFB. It was headquarters and home of the Mighty Eighth Air Force until around 1970. There was almost 40 B-52's along with B-47's and KC-135's. They used to have a free phone number they could call to have the military replace the windows in their houses and any other damage to things falling off the walls. He said it was a beautifull thing back in the day. He once saw a B-58 Hustler there and I know that earlier on they had some B-36 Peacemakers. That is my kinda noise.<img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson

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YGBSM !

Wright-Patt was my stomping ground and intro to the sounds of freedom!

"Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together...." - Carl Zwanzig

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>I know that earlier on they had some <b>B-36 Peacemakers</b>. That is my kinda noise.<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Six turnin' and four burnin'

THE RAMPTOR ENGINEERING TEAM <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
"Who cares if it works? Does it look good on the ramp?"

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